One album before Styx cut loose with an honest-to-goodness concept album, Kilroy Was Here, they flirted with the idea on Paradise Theater. The concept here has something to do with the decline of America in the '70s, based on the condemnation and destruction of the Paradise Theater, a famous showplace in the band's hometown of Chicago. Truth be told, the concept hasn't held together that well, though the individual songs have, led by the optimistic ballad "The Best of Times," and the rockers "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Snowblind." Dennis DeYoung gives some of his most theatrical performances throughout, presaging his overly ambitious Kilroy concept, but also his successful run performing in the legitimate theater, as Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Paradise, meanwhile, was about as good as it got for Styx. --Daniel Durchholz

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